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Indoor Roots Possible in WotLK
Published on October 21, 2007 by Phaelia 
Blue, Spells and Talents 
11 Comments
One of the limitations about which Moonkins clamor squawk most loudly is their lack of viable indoor crowd control. Many claim that it causes them to be excluded from Heroic instances where CC is often more important than damage (and when you can get both in a complete package, they say, why consider a Moonkin?). Wisperella of Lllane recently broached this topic on the official Druid Forums:
I used to be feral and specced for Moonkin. While i do love the spec, i feel we could be way more popular if we have a sort of Indoors reliable CC.
Of course no one wants more CC spells/skills in game, so why not remove the old indoor restriction for roots? If not the core skill, maybe changing the Brambles talent (the no one picks anyway) to allow the indoor use.
Surprisingly enough, Community Manager Eyonix — long ago thought to have given up on his Moonkin due to inactivity in the Druid forums — responded to her inquiry, stating that this indeed is a possibility under consideration for the Wrath of the Lich King expansion:
It’s something that is possible for Wrath of the Lich King, but it’s difficult to say for certain at this point.
While it’s not guaranteed to happen or certain whether it would be a talented ability (most likely in the Balance tree), this is great news.
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I am excited that BRK is back, though!
/cry I love you, ty for everything.
Why don’t they just chance Cyclone to work longer on PvE target, and with no diminishing returns? Wouldn’t that make things easier, or am I missing something here?
p.s. nice new template :p
While all forms of CC suffer Diminishing Returns in PvP, I’m not sure why those extreme DR need extend into the realm of PvE as well. It probably has to do with the “flavor” of our class. I.e., salted with unnecessary limitations and marinaded in handicaps. ^_^
On the other hand, I think I’d rather use Roots in PvE since they would be easier to refresh (Cyclone is a banish so you have to wait until it breaks to reapply). Of course, Roots is known to break prematurely…
I really think this is, if it were to happen, an awesome change. I think every other DPS class has some form of ghetto CC that makes them worth taking along, and all Druids have really is hibernate. :\ I mentioned this to my bf who plays a druid and he would be pretty ecstatic if they made this change,
Would really help druid survivability when they heal heroic dungeons as well. Seeing a big mob tearing at me will be easier to take knowing I can spec for and pop nature’s grasp almost every other pull to safely avoid getting face planted by loose mobs. A lot of times I’m hesitant to heal in a 5 man for those kind of reasons.
It makes a great deal of sense to allow moonkin (and only moonkin) to root indoor. It stands to reason not to allow all druids to root because root is an incredibly flexible CC (works on anything that melees). Having a healing class with a powerful CC would be a bit unbalancing.
But moonkin definitely should be able to root indoors so they aren’t a dead dps slot.
@Athryn: I’m pretty excited about it, although if the ability isn’t sufficiently deep in the Balance tree, it might make being primary healer in instances more difficult … of course, with the changes to spell damage in Patch 2.3, I already plan on running OOM via Moonfire spam and allowing my tank to die … hee hee!
@Dox: Oh that’s a great point about Nature’s Grasp and one I hadn’t considered. It would make that talent pretty much a given for any Druid.
@Bigtoy: Very good point, Bigtoy. Most forms of CC are limited by mob type (Banish = demons/elementals, Polymorph = Humanoids/Beasts, Sap = Humanoids, Hibernate = Dragonkin/Beats). Druids could quickly become the kings of CC if we could CC just about anything.
I’m a big proponent of deeply specced druids to gain enhanced role utility they lose if specced shallow for hybrid utility.
IMO, Brambles is too low in the Balance tree to allow for indoors Entangling Roots. Like mentioned above, I feel if Roots were able to be used in all indoor dungeons, it should only be the Moonkin able to cast it.
Likewise, I can show understanding to my Tree of Life brethren. I feel Trees, and ONLY Tree of Life should be able to resurrect freely out of combat without the need for a reagent and without a cooldown. Name it Treebirth and keep it separate from Rebirth.
The rigid dichotomy of what counts as “indoors” versus “outdoors” is rather silly. For example, Blackfathom Deeps is an underground dungeon where the entire environment is walled with dirt and roots. But as classified as “indoors”, we can’t command those roots to trap NPCs. I’d prefer there be a stratified classification of dungeons, or areas wherein Entangling Roots CAN be effectively used. It’s unfortunate that most dungeons in TBC don’t fit into an “Underground” or “Garden” environment.
*Underground dungeons like Ragefire Chasm and Wailing Caverns are examples of dungeons that exist in environments where Entangling Roots could be used anywhere. Other dungeons like Deadmines, Blackfathom Deeps, Blackrock Depths, Uldaman, Maraudon, and Coilfang Resevoir are such that Roots could be a viable crowd control in certain parts of the dungeon (the mine caves, the naga caves, the prison block). And then there are the dungeons with utilize a “garden” area which could be kited to as viable Root-able ground. Examples of “Garden” Instances include Botanica, Dire Maul(s), and Scarlet Monastery.
I would actually prefer the recoding of dungeons to allow Entangling Roots in sections of all dungeons as opposed to enabling Roots in indoor dungeons exclusively to Moonkin.
First: treebirth. That’s hysterical. Also very elegant, a druid who commits to Moonkin should be able to CC, a druid that commits to full-time resto should be able to rez.
However I’m not sure how necessary “roots in parts of zones” will be. Besides the major drawback of being a huge headache to balance and weigh, it also misses the point. Indoor/outdoor roots has nothing to do with environmental factors or ‘flavor.’ It has everything to do with allowing a healing class to have a CC that would work on Every Single Pull.
It’s not coincidence that none of the hybrid healers (pally/shaman) have any sort of CC and that only the pure healer has reliable CC on a very narrow classification (undead). Think of how in demand druids could be if they could CC as a healer in an instance, even intermittently.
Our laser beams can penetrate miles of stone in Molten Core, Rogues can be invisible in a well lit room next to a bonfire, and we have mounts that fit in our pockets. The “you are indoors!” excuse is one Blizzard made up because it sounds better than “We don’t want druids CCing in instances as a healing class”
@Urthona: I’d be a sad tree if I had to spec 41 points to pick up Resurrection if only because a PvP spec does not always lend itself to such a number. It seems quite restrictive when you consider that Shamans have self-rez and normal resurrection and don’t have to spec for either … but that isn’t to say I *wouldn’t* spec for it. I’d just grumble excessively about it. =) I do really like your idea of having multiple “terrain types” in dungeons. It seems pretty lazy to flag 95% of instances as “indoors.”
@Bigtoy: Also a good point about a healer being able to reliably CC outshining the other healers. Of course, as it is, we’re told we need to bring a rezzer along to all our instances since we can’t provide rezzes to fallen party members. This soaks up a group spot that would otherwise go to a CC class, so maybe it wouldn’t be so unfair after all, especially considering how difficult it is to maintain CC and heal at the same time. Pulls where I have to Hibernate and heal (Heroic Slave Pens, for instance) are always much more difficult than the ones where I simply have to heal.
All due respect Phaelia, but why would any healer need an out of combat resurrection with a PVP spec? Assuming one uses that spec to actually PVP, does one find themselves OOC long enough to warrant a rez, when spirit healers are plentiful and running is expected?
I’m not resto, and had forgotten the placement of ToL. Now thinking about it, the committed restoration druid probably would get the benefit of a OOC rex at 31 points, level 40. Treebirth with Swiftmend?
And Bigtoy is right about the healers restricted by a lack crowd control, even when they’re the ones who need it most. My suggestion was that moonkin, and only moonkin form, would have access to an indoor root. As moonkin is basically a mage, I feel that still works.
Thoughts?
My point was actually that I don’t want to spend 100 gold each week respeccing back and forth. =D Plus, I’d like to be just as capable of rezzing fallen teammates in Arena as the next three jokers! Placing it at the level of Swiftmend would be a good compromise … until WotLK when I’m considering getting both Moonkin/Dreamstate/Lunar Guidance and Swiftmend (!). I just drooled on my keyboard. *wipe wipe* asdtfguhyijytuhnjmkl
I was assuming we wouldn’t get both the ability to root indoors (CC) and non-combat resurrect. If we did, we would be fulfilling two very important group roles which does seem unfair. But as long as we can’t rez, we’re encouraged to bring a “real” rezzer along with us, costing us a CC spot for Heroics. So maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if we could fill that CC role ourselves, making Druids an equally viable Heroic healer.